The Philadelphia Sketch Club
Where Artists Grow
THE PHILADELPHIA SKETCH CLUB PRESS RELEASE
PHILADELPHIA SKETCH CLUB HONORS JAMIE WYETH
AT 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
The Philadelphia Sketch Club will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a gala celebration on November 20, 2010, at which it will present a medal to Jamie Wyeth for his outstanding achievements in the visual arts. The Joseph Pennell Medal to be presented to Jamie Wyeth was designed in 1920 by Adam Pietz, assistant engraver of the U. S. Mint. The Club has used the medal to honor significant achievers in all forms of the visual arts with recent awards going to the internationally renowned architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown and Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon.
Jamie Wyeth has achieved national and international acclaim as an artist. In selecting Jamie for the award, the Club stated: "In his work Jamie Wyeth has shown the characteristics of a sensitive observer, the technical facility of a master artist, a realistic but creative style and the spirit of goodwill and thoughtfulness. He has evoked the spirit and character of the places and people he painted. Through his international recognition and exhibitions, he has served as a worthy ambassador of American art. He has helped perpetuate an important segment of American art history by being the artistic heir to the Brandywine School tradition."
In addition to being a fine artist of the highest rank, Jamie Wyeth's artistic endeavors have touched on various parts of American history. He studied with his aunt Carolyn Wyeth and his father Andrew Wyeth. He and Andy Warhol painted portraits of each other in the 1970s. He was commissioned to do a posthumous portrait of John F. Kennedy and other portraits included Rudolf Nureyev, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jimmy Carter. His artwork has recorded the impeachment proceedings of President Richard Nixon and NASA's "Eyewitness to Space Program." His work and that of his father and grandfather were shown in the Soviet Union in 1987 in the much publicized exhibition "Three Generations of Wyeth Art." Jamie has designed stamps for the U. S. Postal Service, Christmas cards for the Reagan White House, a coin to support the Special Olympics, a painting to commemorate the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and artwork to further lighthouse preservation. He illustrated two children's books including one written by his mother, Betsy James Wyeth. He has served as a member of the U. S. Postal Advisory Committee, National Endowment for the Arts, Board of Governors of the National Space Institute, National Academy of Design, American Watercolor Society and Art in Embassies Program. Jamie has received honorary degrees from a number of educational institutions. His work is in the National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, Terra Museum of Art, John F. Kennedy Library, Brandywine River Museum, and a number of other major museums as well as national and international private collections, and has been featured in many gallery and museum exhibitions.
During the gala celebration and through December 11th, the Club's Legacy Art Show & Sale will be on display in the second floor gallery, offering attendees the opportunity to do some holiday shopping. For information on obtaining tickets to the Gala, call 215-545-9298 or visit www.sketchclub.org.
Founded in 1860, the Philadelphia Sketch Club (PSC) is America’s oldest artists club. It was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1889 and has been at its current location since 1903. The PSC was founded by six former students of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts who sought to improve their skills at illustration. They were soon joined by other artists who worked in diverse mediums and found value in the Club as a place where artists could meet and share their experiences and friendship. Over the years PSC members have been a force in local and national art. Thomas Eakins taught life classes at the PSC in 1874 and 1875 and used that experience to gain his position at the Pennsylvania Academy. It was in 1875 that he painted his much publicized The Gross Clinic. Thomas Anshutz, who succeeded Eakins at the Academy, was President of the Sketch Club from 1910 until his untimely death in 1912. N. C. Wyeth had his first solo exhibition at the PSC in 1912 and included paintings done in the impressionistic style as well as his illustrations. The list of other distinguished artists who have helped art flourish at the PSC include the illustrators A. B. Frost, Howard Chandler Christy, Henry Pitz and Lyle Justis; cartoonists Hugh Hutton, Jerry Doyle and Peter Boyle; painters Hugh Breckenridge, Walter Baum, Daniel Garber, John Dull, Edward Redfield, Thomas Moran and Fred Wagner; etchers Peter Moran, Stephen Ferris and Earl Horter; lithographers Benton Spruance and Roberts Riggs; watercolorists Frank English, Carl Weber, John Geiszel and Ranulph Bye; sculptors Charles Grafly, R. Tait McKenzie, Howard Roberts and Joseph Bailly; stained glass artist Nicola D’Ascenzo; metalworker Samuel Yellin; and architects Theopilus P Chandler (who founded the architectural school at Penn), Charles M. Burns, William L. Price, and Wilson Eyre. As a group these artists initiated programs to promote the creation and appreciation of art. They shared studio space and models and opened these workshops to the public. They held exhibitions so artists’ works could be seen and enjoyed by the public. Exhibitions by the PSC began in 1865 and the list of medal winners is an honor roll of area painters. They held meetings and art demonstrations. More importantly, they shared their life experiences with emerging artists and the interested public through a unique camaraderie. Many great artists broadened their skills at the PSC. Many great works of art have been presented to the public here. In a publication by the Pennsylvania Academy concerning the Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Showing the Later Tendencies in Art held in 1921, it listed the PSC as one of the five principal places (the others being in New York and Paris) where art was discussed in a salon setting. From an artistic viewpoint, the PSC is truly hallowed ground and a mutual connection point between many great artists. In 1902, the PSC purchased its current site at 235 South Camac Street, Philadelphia. It is listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and as a contributing property in the Washington Square West National Register Historic District. The building is three Federal-period rowhouses built in the 1820s that were combined by the PSC into one building to include a 30’ x 40’ gallery. The PSC is of great interest to anyone interested in American art and is open to the public to view its contemporary exhibitions and works from its permanent collection.
Adam Pietz, Joseph Pennell Medal
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